Offshore Accident Lawyer Near You
What does an offshore accident lawyer do? An offshore accident lawyer represents seamen, deckhands, and offshore workers injured on vessels, rigs, and platforms — filing claims under the Jones Act, the century-old federal law that gives maritime workers far stronger rights than land-based employees receive. These attorneys also pursue unseaworthiness claims against vessel owners and Longshore Act claims for harbor workers, working in a body of law most personal injury lawyers never touch.
What a Offshore Accident Lawyer Does
- Determine your exact maritime status — Jones Act seaman, Longshore harbor worker, or OCSLA platform worker — because each status unlocks a different set of rights and remedies.
- File Jones Act negligence claims, where even the slightest employer fault can establish liability under the Act's famously light causation standard.
- Pursue unseaworthiness claims against vessel owners for unsafe conditions, defective gear, or an incompetent or inadequate crew — liability that doesn't require proving negligence at all.
- Demand maintenance and cure — your daily stipend plus medical care — which the employer owes from day one with no lawsuit required, and fight back when payments are cut off.
- Defeat the McCorpen defense, where employers try to void your entire claim by alleging you concealed a pre-existing condition when hired.
- Navigate the three-year Jones Act limitations period and the special jurisdictional rules for injuries beyond the three-mile limit and on the high seas.
When You Need a Offshore Accident Lawyer
- You were injured working aboard a ship, tug, barge, supply vessel, fishing boat, or offshore drilling unit.
- Your employer stopped paying maintenance and cure, or is pressuring you to sign a release before your treatment is finished.
- Defective equipment, an undermanned crew, or unsafe orders at sea caused your injury.
- You work on docks, terminals, or in shipyards and were injured on or over navigable waters.
- A loved one died working offshore — maritime wrongful death under DOHSA and the Jones Act follows very different rules than state law.
- Your injury happened beyond state waters, where state workers' compensation doesn't apply at all.
How Much Does a Offshore Accident Lawyer Cost?
Offshore accident lawyers work on contingency — typically one-third to 40% of the recovery — with no upfront fees and case costs for maritime experts and vessel inspections advanced by the firm. One critical difference from land cases: maintenance and cure is owed immediately and separately from any lawsuit, so a good maritime lawyer gets those daily payments and medical bills flowing before any settlement is negotiated. If your employer has cut off maintenance, that alone is reason to call.
Offshore Accident FAQs
What is the Jones Act?
The Merchant Marine Act of 1920, codified at 46 U.S.C. § 30104, gives seamen — workers who contribute to a vessel's mission and have a substantial connection to it — the right to sue their employers for negligence with a featherweight causation standard: the employer's fault need only have played the slightest part. It also guarantees a jury trial and carries a three-year statute of limitations. It remains the single most powerful worker-protection statute in American injury law.
What are maintenance and cure?
Two ancient maritime obligations owed to an injured seaman regardless of fault: maintenance, a daily living allowance paid while you're recovering and unable to work, and cure, payment of your medical treatment until you reach maximum medical improvement. The employer owes both from the moment of injury — no lawsuit needed — and willfully refusing to pay can trigger punitive damages under Atlantic Sounding v. Townsend.
What's the difference between the Jones Act and the Longshore Act?
The Jones Act covers seamen — the crew of vessels — and requires proving employer negligence (though the burden is light), with full tort damages including pain and suffering. The Longshore and Harbor Workers' Compensation Act (33 U.S.C. § 901) covers harbor workers, longshoremen, and shipyard workers: it's a federal workers' comp system that pays without proving fault but doesn't allow pain-and-suffering damages. Your lawyer's first job is determining which one you fall under.
What does it mean for a vessel to be unseaworthy?
A vessel is unseaworthy when the ship, its equipment, or its crew is not reasonably fit for its intended use — a slippery deck, a frayed line, a broken winch, or an undertrained crew all qualify. The owner's duty to provide a seaworthy vessel is absolute: if unseaworthiness caused your injury, the owner is liable even without negligence. This claim can be brought alongside a Jones Act negligence claim for maximum recovery.
Does the Jones Act apply on offshore oil platforms?
It depends on the structure. Jack-up rigs and drillships that move on navigable waters generally count as vessels, so their crews are Jones Act seamen. Fixed platforms attached to the seabed fall under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, which typically extends Longshore Act benefits instead. Employers routinely misclassify platform workers to dodge Jones Act liability — status disputes are common, and they're winnable with the right lawyer.
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Find a Offshore Accident Lawyer by State
Laws vary by state — choose yours to find attorneys who practice where you live: